February 5, 2003: California: SFSU strengthens the nursing career ladder:"As the nationwide nursing shortage focuses attention on recruiting first-line RNs, SFSU's School of Nursing is finding new ways to also increase working nurses' career satisfaction and retention. Associate Professors Amy Nichols and Andrea Boyle have designed an innovative MSN program that helps RNs with bachelor's degrees move up the career ladder -- an effort to retain these much-needed professionals in their field.
With an emphasis on flexibility, peer support, and respect for the experiences and knowledge that working professionals hold, the two-year MSN cohort program is tailor-made for nurses who want to enhance their career mobility and earning potential without putting their careers or family lives on hold."http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/2003/14.htm

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February 5, 2003: Michigan: NOCH to continue 'proactive' battle to recruit nurses:"The number of newly licensed registered nurses in Michigan has decreased each of the past five years, according to an MSU study, and the number of RNs licensed in the state fell from about 117,000 in 1999 to 111,500 in 2000. The same study indicated that the average age of nurses in the state is getting older: RNs under the age of 30 fell from 26 percent of the nursing workforce in 1980 to 9 percent two years ago.
Beginning salary for RNs in Southwest Michigan is approximately $34,000 a year, according to the Web site for Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek. Salaries for beginning licensed practical nurses (LPNs) start between $26,000 and $29,000 a year."http://www.grandhaventribune.com/cgi-bin/liveique.acgi$rec=20926?news

2/03/03: Arizona: Nurses Rally At Arizona State Building, Demanding Better Nurse-Patient Ratios:"It's a continued crisis in health care: a nursing shortage in Tucson hospitals and medical facilities all around the nation. And Monday, the Southern Arizona Nurses Coalition held a rally to press for legislation that will allow hospitals to hire more nurses. Health care officials around town acknowledge that there is a nursing shortage. So they're encouraging more college-age students to consider choosing the nursing profession. Meanwhile, nurses like the ones rallying Monday say hospitals should also hire more nurses to cut down on overwork and burnout.
Dozens of nurses are calling for legislation requiring minimum nurse-patient ratios in hospitals."http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=1112563

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February 3, 2003: New Mexico: We need an Rx for nurses, too:"Nursing shortages translate into suffering. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations recently said 24 percent of patient errors resulting in critical injuries and death were related to inadequate staffing.
A May 2002 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine said higher nurse staffing correlated with up to a 12 percent reduction in patient problems.
Some of our nation's hospitals are now allowing nurse's aides to write nurse notes on patient status. One such note actually written by an aide said, "Patient don't move all day. Just lays there." You can imagine what the second shift discovered when it went on duty. The patient wasn't sleeping."http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/business03/020303_business_jdcol.shtml

January 28, 2003: Montana: Nurturing a need:"Montana, like the rest of the nation, is experiencing a severe drought of nurses. Adding 16 new nurses per year in Billings -- the first expanded class will not graduate until 2008 -- is not going to make a huge dent in the problem, but everything helps, said Alice Gordon, chief nursing officer and vice president of clinical operations for Deaconess Billings Clinic.
"It's very good news. We're very happy," she said. "We think we could handle even more (students)."
One of the bitter truths of the nursing shortage is that there's no lack of students hoping to become nurses. In fall 2002, the MSU College of Nursing had 397 applicants, or nearly three students vying for every upper-level spot, according to statistics provided by MSU. Nursing schools around the nation turned away nearly 6,000 qualified applicants in 2001, according to a survey by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing."http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tl=1&display=rednews/2003/01/28/build/local/65-msu-b-nursing.inc

Tuesday, 01/28/03: Tennessee: $1.74M to aid MTSU nursing school:"Middle Tennessee State University will announce today that it has received $1.74 million from a Murfreesboro-based foundation to expand its nursing school and create more scholarships for nursing students.
The gift from the Christy-Houston Foundation, which MTSU will try to match with other grants, comes as states are facing a severe nursing shortage. MTSU has been unable to educate as many nurses as it would like because of a lack of space in its 9-year-old building, officials said.
''This is an ambitious and a very aggressive strategic initiative in an area that we believe will address a critical need of the state,'' said Sidney McPhee, the university's president."http://www.tennessean.com/education/archives/03/01/28159790.shtml?Element_ID=28159790

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January 28, 2003: Wyoming: Proposed nursing education funds cut:"The Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday cut more than half of the funding out of a bill that tries to solve the state's nurse shortage.
Senate File 22, which started out with just under $3.2 million in appropriations and was left with just over $1.2 million, would provide funding to the state's community colleges to increase the number of nursing faculty and provide scholarships to students and faculty.
Under the amended bill, $227,000 in what Sen. John Schiffer, R-Kaycee, called "seed money" would be allocated for scholarships for students who attend a community college or the University of Wyoming and agree to stay in Wyoming after graduation. Another $273,000 would be available for scholarships for faculty who want to improve their education and return to teach at a Wyoming facility."http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/01/28/build/wyoming/xgr-nursingeducation.inc

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January 27, 2003: California: CA Nursing Shortage Threatens Care:"California is facing a nursing shortage so severe that it's being called a health care crisis.
While lifting and turning patients unable to move themselves, nurse David Turner puts his back and shoulders into his work, as well as his heart.
Seventeen years ago, Turner sold his ice manufacturing business in St. Louis and decided to become a nurse. Five years into nursing he had second thoughts, but has stayed for the rewards.
Nursing needs more people like Turner: more men. More men, more women, more minority community members and more instructors to train them."http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=1101577

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Sun, Jan. 26, 2003: Minnesota: Lawmakers hear educators', nurses' concerns about bills:"The bill that has nurses concerned is HB1245, sponsored by Rep. George Keiser, R-Bismarck. It would remove oversight of nursing education from the Board of Nursing and give it to the Board of Higher Education. The bill also would loosen educational requirements.
A current and a former registered nurse said the bill is dangerous because it reduces the quality of health care in the state. One said health care is becoming ever more complex, and it makes no sense to reduce educational requirements.
Potter, who sits on the Human Services Committee, said supporters of the bill think lowering standards would help recruit nurses to rural areas, which face a shortage of nurses. She said that problem probably could be fixed only with higher wages."http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/5033183.htm

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Sunday, January 26, 2003: Pennsylvania: 'We have to have more nurses':""Right now there are fewer older people, and more young people to take care of them," said Amy Stewart, president of Senior Solution, a private geriatric care agency in Easton. "As the baby boomers age, that is going to reverse." Part of the problem is a lack of interest among young women in nursing as a career.
"There are a lot more options available to the traditionally female-dominated nursing work force than there were 30 years ago," said Paul Langevin, president of the Healthcare Association of New Jersey.
And young men shy away from nursing as a career because it retains a feminine connotation."http://www.nj.com/news/expresstimes/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1043575494260760.xml

Saturday, January 25, 2003: Montana: HCT nurse training program doubles in size in past year:"There may be a shortage of nurses in Montana, but there's no shortage of nursing students at the University of Montana-Helena College of Technology. This past year, the nursing program has more than doubled in size.
"The word is out that there's a nursing shortage and there's nursing jobs out there," said Ellen Wirtz, UM-Helena practical nursing chair. "And the word is out too that we have a strong program."
And strong it is. In the last two years, every graduate has passed the Board of Nursing licensing exams. Over the past seven years, UM-Helena's passing rate has been better than 90 percent.
Generally, about 25 nursing students graduate every year from UM-Helena, but this fall 55 students enrolled in their first year. Even between the fall semester and spring semester, new nursing students have come on board."http://www.helenair.com/articles/2003/01/25/breaking/a01012503_01.txt

Thursday, January 23, 2003: Pennsylvania: Competing for caregivers:"Human resource administrators at St. Barnabas Health System don't need a psychic to tell them how much longer the nursing shortage that is hitting health care systems nationwide will last. But they thought one could help weather the three-year-old labor crunch, so they hired a palm reader for their "We See You in Our Future" job fair o